Question: Express this product in scientific notation: $(8.70\times 10^{-4})\times (10.00\times 10^{2})$
Solution: Start by collecting like terms together. $= (8.70\times 10.00) \times (10^{-4}\times 10^{2})$ When multiplying exponents with the same base, add the powers together. $= 87.0 \times 10^{-4\,+\,2}$ $= 87.0 \times 10^{-2}$ To write the answer correctly in scientific notation, the first number needs to be between $1$ and $10$ . In this case, we need to move the decimal one position to the left without changing the value of our answer. $ $ We can use the fact that $87.0$ is the same as $8.700 \times 10$ $ = {8.700 \times 10} \times 10^{-2} $ $= 8.700\times 10^{-1}$